System and Method for Network Interaction Between Computing Devices

ABSTRACT

The present specification provides, amongst other things, a method and system for network interaction between computing devices. In one embodiment a wireless client machine is provided that includes a mini web-browser that is configured to access a secure web-page from a web-server. The secure web-page includes an interactive form. The wireless client machine is also configured to access a schema that corresponds to the secure web-page. The wireless client machine is configured to render the secure web-page using the contents of the schema.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/016,248 filed Jan. 18, 2008 by Sang-Heun Kim, et al. entitled,“System and Method for Network Interaction Between Computing Devices”,which is incorporated by reference herein as if reproduced in itsentirety.

FIELD

The present specification relates generally to communication and morespecifically relates to a system and method for network interactionbetween computing devices.

BACKGROUND

Computing devices are becoming smaller and increasingly utilize wirelessconnectivity. Examples of such computing devices include portablecomputing devices that include wireless network browsing capability aswell as telephony and personal information management capabilities. Thesmaller size of such client devices necessarily limits their displaycapabilities. Furthermore the wireless connections to such devicestypically have less bandwidth than corresponding wired connections. TheWireless Application Protocol (“WAP”) was designed to address suchissues, but WAP can still provide a very unsatisfactory experience oreven completely ineffective experience, particularly where the smallclient device needs to effect a secure connection with web-sites thathost web-pages that are optimized for full traditional desktop browsers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is schematic representation of a system for network interactionbetween computing devices.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary secure web-page hosted by the web-server inFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a flow-chart depicting a method of network interactionbetween computing devices that can be performed on the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows the system of FIG. 1 during exemplary performance of partof the method in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows the system of FIG. 1 during further exemplary performanceof another part of the method in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 shows the secure web-page of FIG. 2 as rendered on the clientmachine of FIG. 1 using the method of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 shows another system for network interaction between computingdevices.

FIG. 8 shows the system of FIG. 1 with an exemplary connection.

FIG. 9 shows a flow-chart depicting a method of network interactionbetween computing devices that can be performed on the system of FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 shows the system of FIG. 7 during exemplary performance of partof the method in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 shows the system of FIG. 7 during further exemplary performanceof part of the method in FIG. 9.

FIG. 12 shows the system of FIG. 7 during further exemplary performanceof part of the method in FIG. 9.

FIG. 13 shows another system for network interaction between computingdevices.

DESCRIPTION

An aspect of the specification provides a system for network interactionbetween computing devices comprising a network and a first computingdevice configured to communicate over the network. The at least oneadditional computing device is also configured to communicate over thenetwork and to provide interactive content. The first computing deviceis configured to access the interactive content. The interactive contentincludes at least one field that can receive input from the firstcomputing device. The field has an input parameter. The at least oneadditional computing device is configured to provide a schemacorresponding to the interactive content and to identify the inputparameters

The interactive content can include at least two fields, and each of thefields can have different input parameters.

The first computing device can be configured access the schema.

The first computing device can be configured to render the interactivecontent on the first computing device using the schema.

The first computing device can be further configured to verify thatinput provided to each of the at least two fields conforms with theparameters.

The interactive content can be secure interactive content and the firstcomputing device can be configured to access the secure interactivecontent via a secure connection. The secure connection can be carried byhypertext transfer protocol over secure socket layer.

The interactive content can be a web-page including interactive fields.

The fields can comprise information for completing a product order,including a name, an address, and an account number. The fields canfurther comprise a credit card type and the account number can be acredit card number. The parameter for the credit card type can comprisea selection of one of a plurality of known credit card types and theparameter for the account number can correspond to a known number formatrespective to the credit card type.

The at least one additional computing device can comprise a secondcomputing device for hosting the content and a third computing devicefor hosting the schema. The first computing device can be configuredwith a network address for the third computing device. The thirdcomputing device can host a plurality of signatures for differentinteractive contents.

The network can comprise the Internet.

The content that is in a web-page format can be configured for a fullweb-browser and the first computing device can comprise a mini-browser.

The first computing device can be a mobile electronic device with thecombined functionality of a personal digital assistant, cell phone,email paging device, and a web-browser.

Another aspect of the present specification provides a first computingdevice in accordance with the first computing device according to any ofthe foregoing.

Another aspect of the present specification provides at least oneadditional computing device according to any of the foregoing.

Another aspect of the present specification provides a first a methodfor network interaction between computing devices comprising: receivinginteractive content at a first computing device from at least oneadditional computing device; the interactive content can include atleast one field that can receive input from the first computing device;the field has an input parameters; receiving a schema for theinteractive content at the first computing device from the at least oneadditional computing device; the schema identifying the inputparameters; rendering the interactive content on the first computingdevice using the schema.

The interactive content can include at least two fields, and each of thefields can have different input parameters.

The method can further include receiving input within the fields at thefirst computing device.

The method can further include verifying that input provided to each ofthe at least two fields conforms with the parameters.

Another aspect of the specification comprises a computer readable mediumconfigured to maintain programming instructions in accordance with anyof foregoing.

The present specification provides, amongst other things, a method andsystem for network interaction between computing devices. In oneembodiment a wireless client machine is provided that includes a miniweb-browser that is configured to access a secure web-page from aweb-server. The secure web-page includes an interactive form. Thewireless client machine is also configured to access a schema thatcorresponds to the secure web-page. The wireless client machine isconfigured to render the secure web-page using the contents of theschema.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a system for network interaction betweencomputing devices is indicated generally at 50. In a present embodimentsystem 50 comprises a first computing device in the form of a clientmachine 54 and a second computing device in the form of a web server 58,and a third computing device in the form of a schema server 62. Anetwork 66 interconnects each of the foregoing components.

Each client machine 54 is typically any type of computing or electronicdevice that can be used to interact with content available on network66. Each client machine 54 is operated by a user U. Interaction includesdisplaying of information on client machine 54 as well as to receiveinput at client machine 54 that is in turn sent back over network 66. Ina present embodiment, client machine 54 is a mobile electronic devicewith the combined functionality of a personal digital assistant, cellphone, email paging device, and a web-browser. Such a mobile electronicdevice thus includes a keyboard (or other input device(s)), a display, aspeaker, (or other output device(s)) and a chassis within which thekeyboard, display monitor, speaker are housed. The chassis also housesone or more central processing units, volatile memory (e.g. randomaccess memory), persistent memory (e.g. Flash read only memory) andnetwork interfaces to allow machine 54 to communicate over network 66.

Web server 58 and schema server 62 (which can, if desired, beimplemented on a single server) can be based on any well-known serverenvironment including a module that houses one or more centralprocessing units, volatile memory (e.g. random access memory),persistent memory (e.g. hard disk devices) and network interfaces toallow servers 58 and 62 to communicate over network 66. For example,server 58 or server 62 or both can be a Sun Fire V480 running a UNIXoperating system, from Sun Microsystems, Inc. of Palo Alto Calif., andhaving four central processing units each operating at aboutnine-hundred megahertz and having about sixteen gigabytes of randomaccess memory. However, it is to be emphasized that this particularserver is merely exemplary, and a vast array of other types of computingenvironments for servers 58 and 62 are contemplated.

It should now be understood that the nature of network 66 and the links70, 74 and 78 associated therewith is not particularly limited and are,in general, based on any combination of architectures that will supportinteractions between client machine 54 and servers 58 and 62. In apresent embodiment network 66 itself includes the Internet as well asappropriate gateways and backhauls to links 70, 74 and 78. Accordingly,the links 70, 74 and 78 between network 66 and the interconnectedcomponents are complementary to functional requirements of thosecomponents.

More specifically, system 50 includes link 70 between client machine 54and network 66, link 70 being based in a present embodiment on coremobile network infrastructure (e.g. Global System for Mobilecommunications (“GSM”); Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”); CDMA2000; 3G) or on wireless local area network (“WLAN”) infrastructuressuch as the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (“IEEE”)802.11 Standard (and its variants) or Bluetooth or the like or hybridsthereof. Note that in an exemplary variation of system 50 it iscontemplated that client machine 54 could be other types of clientmachines whereby link 70 is a wired connection.

System 50 also includes link 74 which can be based on a T1, T3, O3 orany other suitable wired or wireless connection between server 58 andnetwork 66. System 50 also includes link 78 which can be based on a T1,T3, O3 or any other suitable wired or wireless connection between server62 and network 66.

As previously stated, client machine 54 is configured to interact withcontent available over network 66, including web content on web server58. In a present embodiment, client machine 54 effects such interactionvia a web-browser 82 that is configured to execute on client machine 54.As will be explained further below, web-browser 82 is a mini-browser inthe sense that it is configured to re-render web-pages on the relativelysmall display of client machine 54, and during such re-rendering attemptto render those pages in a format that conveys information, as much aspossible, substantially in the same manner as if those web-pages hadbeen rendered on a full browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox ona traditional desktop or laptop computer. Web server 58 is configured tohost a web-site 86 that includes, in a present embodiment, a secureweb-page 90. The non-secure portions of web-site 86 can be based on theHypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) while secure web-page 90 can bebased on, for example, the HTTP over Secure Socket Layer (“SSL”)(“HTTPS”) protocol. By the same token web-browser 82 will be equipped toaccess and interact with both web-page 86 and secure web-page 90.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary representation of a secure web-page 90. Therepresentation in FIG. 2 shows how secure web-page 90 would be renderedon a traditional desk-top computer such as a Windows-based computerrunning the Internet Explorer or Firefox Web-browser as an HTTPSweb-page. In the example, web-site 86 is an e-commerce web-sitebelonging to a fictional computer equipment retailer named ABC ComTechCorp. Web-site 86 can be browsed to select various computer equipmentitems for purchase, culminating in the selection of secure web-page 90which is a checkout screen that can be used to complete the final orderfor the selected computer equipment and to provide payment and shippinginformation therefor. Due to security concerns, secure web-page 90 istherefore provided via the HTTPS protocol in order to protect theprivacy of the purchaser and reduce the likelihood of identity theft.Thus, secure web-page 90 includes a plurality of fields including:

1) a title field 100 that identifies the equipment retailer andidentifies web-page 90 as a checkout screen;

2) a shopping cart field 104 that identifies the equipment that has beenselected for purchase and the total cost thereof;

3) a last name field 108 which is interactive and can receive input thatidentifies the buyer;

4) a first name field 112 which is interactive and can receive inputthat identifies the buyer;

5) a shipping address field 116 which is interactive and can receiveinput that identifies the shipping address of the equipment identifiedin field 104;

6) a credit card type field 118 which is interactive and can receiveinput identifying the type of credit card (e.g. VISA™, Mastercard™)being used to purchase the equipment identified in field 104;

7) a credit card number field 122 which is interactive and can receiveinput identifying a credit card belonging to the entity identified infields 108 and 112 and corresponds to the type identified in field 118;

8) a credit card billing address field 126 which is interactive and canreceive input identifying the address to which bills for the credit cardidentified in credit card field 122 are sent;

9) a “complete checkout” button 130 which can be selected once fields108-126 have been completed.

Note that it is common for interactive fields 108-126 to be constrainedso that only certain types of input are permitted. For example, creditcard number field 122 can be constrained to only permit digits, and canbe further constrained to require a certain number of digits thatcorrespond to an expected number of digits for a credit cardcorresponding to the credit card type identified in credit card typefield 118. In addition, it is common in a traditional desktop browserscenario that the selection of button 130 the resulting page will besent to server 86 and will lead to a verification process by server 86that the data entered in fields 108-126 conforms with certainrequirements—in the simplest example the verification process on server86 will ensure that all fields 108-126 were actually completed, and amore complex verification process server 86 will ensure that fields werecompleted according to specific restrictions.

Those skilled in the art will now recognize that secure web-page 90 asshown in FIG. 2 and fields 100-130 are purely exemplary and that secureweb-page 90 need not be constrained to the structure or appearance inFIG. 2.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in a present embodiment, web-browser 82 isalso configured to interact with schema server 62 in order to obtain aschema 94.

In general, a schema such as schema 94 comprises a file correspondingsecure website content such as secure web-page 90. A schema can containinstructions to identify each page family on the website (login, signup,etc.), as well as instructions to extract desired objects and elementsfor each page family. A schema can additionally specify the relationshipbetween the objects and attributes (user login field is a globalusername field, user password field is a global password field), andprovide user U the capability of completing secure transactions. Notethat not all transactions need to be implemented for a schema to becomplete.

Schema 94, which can be maintained in the form of an eXtended MarkupLanguage (“XML”) file, or the like, contains data which assistsweb-browser 82 to render secure web-page 90 on client machine 54. TableI shows an exemplary representation of a schema 94 that corresponds tosecure web-page 90.

TABLE I Exemplary content of schema 94 corresponding to exemplary secureweb-page 90 Field Name Field Reference Field Type Parameters Title Field100 Non-interactive Display contents only Shopping Cart Field 104Non-interactive Display contents only Last Name 108 Interactive Namefield; Text only First Name 112 Interactive Name field; Text onlyShipping Address 116 Interactive Address Format; Mixed Numeric and Text;Requires: Street number; Street name; street type; city name; provinceor state; country; postal or zip code Credit Card Type 118 InteractiveMenu List Credit Card Number 122 Interactive Credit Card Number;Numeric; Formation and Number of digits dependent on selection of CreditCard Type 118 Credit Card Billing 126 Interactive Address Format; MixedAddress Numeric and Text; Requires: Street number; Street name; streettype; city name; province or state; country; postal or zip code CheckoutComplete 130 Interactive Button indicating form is complete to submitform back to web server; If selected, ensure compliance with Parametersfor Fields 108-126 prior to submitting form back to web server; ifParameters for Fields 108-126 are non- compliant then generate errormessage.

Explaining Table I in greater detail, Field Name column corresponds tothe field name in FIG. 2; the Field Reference column corresponds to thereference character in FIG. 2 and the respective field name. The FieldName and Field Reference are used by web-browser 82 to identify thevarious fields in secure-web-page 90. (It should be understood that theField Name and Field Reference are actually encoded in secure web-page90 and schema 94 in HTML format). The Field Type and Content Parameterscolumns of Table I are used by web-browser 82 to understand how thecorresponding fields in FIG. 2 are to be treated by web-browser 82 whenweb-browser 82 renders those fields. (It should be understood that theField Type and Content Parameters are actually encoded in schema 94 in aformat that is usable by web-browser 82 during rendering of web-page90).

Referring now to FIG. 3, a method for network interaction between twocomputers is represented in the form of a flow-chart as indicatedgenerally at 300. Method 300 can be performed using system 50, though itis to be understood that method 300 can be performed on variations ofsystem 50, and likewise it is to be understood that method 300 can bevaried.

Beginning at block 310 a web-page is received. Performance of block 310is represented in FIG. 4, wherein secure web-page 90 is shown as beingcarried over an HTTPS connection 140 via link 74, network 66 and link 70to web-browser 82. At this point it can be noted that the contents ofsecure web-page 90 are requested from web-server 58 and delivered toclient machine 54 in substantially the same manner as would be occur ifclient machine 54 were rendered on a full browser such as InternetExplorer or Firefox on a traditional desktop or laptop computer withfull capabilities. Thus, the programmer of web-page 90 (and for thatmatter, web-site 86) need not take any steps to optimize secure web-page90 for the relatively limited display and processing capabilities ofclient machine 54.

Referring again to FIG. 3, at block 315 a schema web-page is received.Performance of block 315 is represented in FIG. 5, wherein schema 94 isshown as being carried over a connection 144 via link 78, network 66 andlink 70 to web-browser 82. Note that the nature of connection 144 is notparticularly limited and can be based on any desired protocol.

Also note that the means by which web-browser 82 requests schema 94 isnot particularly limited. In one particular embodiment, however, it iscontemplated that web-browser 82 will be configured to automaticallymake network requests over network 66 to request a schema thatcorresponds to secure web-page 90. For example, schema server 62 canhave a predefined network address on network 66 that is preprogrammedinto client machine 54. The type of network address is not particularlylimited, and can be, for example, any type of network identifier such asan Internet Protocol (“IP”) address or a Uniform Resource Locator(“URL”). Any other suitable type of network address is contemplated.Client machine 54 can therefore be programmed to send a request to theaddress for schema server 62 and request that schema server 62 provide,if available, a schema (e.g. schema 94) that corresponds to secureweb-page 90. The request provided by client machine 54 can be formedwith any unique identifier for secure web-page 90, but in the context ofthe Internet the request would most typically be, or derived from, theURL associated with secure web-page 90. In turn, that unique identifiercan be used to index schema 94 on schema server 62.

As well, authentication can be made through connection 144 to validatethe origin of schema 94. For an example, private and public key basedauthentication can verify that schema 94 is originated from a trustedsource.

Those skilled in the art will now recognize that system 50 can beimplemented so that a plurality of secure web-pages (like secureweb-page 90) are hosted over network 66 (either alone by server 58 or bya plurality of web servers like web server 58), and that a correspondingplurality of signatures for each of those secure web-pages can bemaintained on schema server 62. Those skilled in the art will nowrecognize that there can in fact be a plurality of schema servers (likeschema server 62) and that client machine 54 can be configured to searchfor corresponding schema files on one or more of those schema servers.Those skilled in the art will now further recognize that schema serverscan be hosted by a variety of different parties, including, for example:a) a manufacturer client machine 54, b) a service provider that providesaccess to network 66 via link 70 on behalf of user U of client machine54; or c) the entity that hosts web-site 86. In the latter example itcan even be desired to simply host schema file 94 directly on web server58 and thereby obviate the need for schema server 62.

Referring again to FIG. 3, at block 320 the web-page is rendered usingthe schema. In other words the web-page received at block 310 isrendered using the schema received at block 315. Block 320 is in thepresent example performed by web-browser 82 which renders secureweb-page 90 using schema 94. Of particular note is that web-browser canutilize the Field Type and Parameters data in Table I in order to renderfields 108-126 in an interactive format on the display of client machine54 and ensure compliance with the Parameters as those interactive fieldsare used to receive input from user U of client machine 54.

FIG. 6 shows exemplary performance of block 320, as secure web-page 90is now shown in FIG. 6 as secure web-page 90′ which consists of threeseparate screens 90′-A, 90′-B and 90′-C. As rendered on the display ofclient machine 54, user U input can be provided to scroll between eachscreen 90′-A, 90′-B and 90′-C. Likewise fields 108-126 can be completedon screens 90′-B and 90′-C and web-browser 82 will ensure compliancewith the Parameters of Table I prior to accepting selection of the“Done” button 130 (equivalent to “Checkout complete” button 130). Alsoof note however, and not readily apparent from viewing FIG. 6 is thatclient machine 54, through web-browser 82, is now configured to requireinput to fields 108-126 that comply with the Parameters in Table I. Forexample, web-browser 82 will require that the credit card number field122 will contain a sequence of digits that corresponds to an expectedsequence of digits from a credit card type from the credit card typefield 118. Such verification can therefore occur prior to actuallysending the completed form back to web-server 58.

Various advantages will now be apparent. One result of the foregoing isthat a developer of secure web-page 90 need only prepare a secureweb-page 90 for rendering on a full web-browser without considering thelimitations of mini-browser 82 and yet secure web-page 90 can still berendered and used on client 54. Another result is that schema 94 can becreated by any party in order extend the availability of web-page 90onto a plurality of client machines 54 and thereby increase traffic toweb-site 86. Another result of the foregoing is that the security ofconnection 140 between server 58 and client machine 54 is preservedthroughout the performance of method 300, and thereby affording privacyto user U of client 54. This can be particularly important if, as mightoccur in the prior art, user U were to inadvertently enter in a creditcard number into, for example, last name field 108 which (for whateverreason) was not configured to be sent back to web server 58 via secureconnection 140 but over an insecure connection (not shown); in thisscenario, not only would the transaction fail leading frustration foruser U, but also user U's credit card would be sent over an insecureconnection thereby exposing the credit card number to theft.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a system for network interaction betweencomputing devices in accordance with another embodiment is indicatedgenerally at 50 a. System 50 a is a variant of system 50 and accordinglylike elements in system 50 a bear like reference characters to elementsin system 50, except followed by the suffix “a”. Of note however is thatin system 50 a client machine 54 a includes, in addition to web-browser82 a, a transcoding engine 202 a and a personal information database 204a. Transcoding engine 202 a is configured to receive schema 94 a and touse schema 94 a in order to instruct web-browser 82 a how to renderweb-page 90 a on client machine 54 a. Personal information database 204a includes personal information of user U, including, for example, atleast one or more of login credentials, credit card information, giftcard information. In general personal information database 204 aincludes information which should be kept secure during any interactionbetween client machine 54 a and content available on network 66 a. Itshould be understood that the term “personal information database” isused for convenience and that personal information database 204 a is adata file that maintains those objects.

Also of note in system 50 a is that schema server 62 a also includes atranscoding engine 208 a. As best shown in FIG. 8, transcoding engine208 a is configured to intermediate traffic between web-browser 82 a andnon-secure portions of web-site 86 a via connection 212 a. Connection212 a itself can be a secure or non-secure connection, though typicallywould be non-secure in accordance with the non-secure portions ofcontent on web-site 86 a and thereby decrease overhead associated withconnection 212 a. Transcoding engine 208 a is thus configured to, insubstantially real-time, transcode non-secure portions of web-site 86 aso that they are optimized on behalf of web-browser 82 a for immediatedisplay on client machine 54 a. Thus, in this system 50 a web-browser 82a is not configured to re-render the non-secure material on web-site 86a itself, but instead rely on transcoding engine 208 a.

Assume, while referring to FIG. 8, that such non-secure portions ofweb-site 86 a reflect various computer equipment items for that can bebrowsed for purchase (consistent with the example relative to web-site86 of system 50) via a secure checkout page associated with secureweb-page 90 a. System 50 a can therefore also be used to effect a secureweb-checkout using secure web-page 90 a. Referring now to FIG. 9, amethod for network interaction is represented in the form of aflow-chart as indicated generally at 800. Method 800 can be performedusing system 50 a, though it is to be understood that method 800 can beperformed on variations of system 50, and likewise it is to beunderstood that method 800 can be varied. Indeed, those skilled in theart will now recognize that method 800 is a variation of method 300.

At block 810 a schema is requested. Block 810 is performed bytranscoding engine 202 a, which establishes a connection with schemaserver 62 a in order to retrieve schema 94 a. At block 815 a the schemais validated and returned. The validation of block 815 a (which, it willbe appreciated, like certain other aspects of method 800, will beunderstood to be optional) can be effected by server 62 a which canperform a validation operation to confirm that signature 94 a matchessecure web-site 90 a and is otherwise up-to-date. If validation is notachieved then an exception (e.g. an error) can be generated. Assumingvalidation is achieved, then schema 94 a is returned to transcodingengine 202 a. At block 820, the schema is loaded. In the present examplethe schema is loaded into transcoding engine 202 a. Blocks 810 through820 are represented in FIG. 10, as a secure connection betweentranscoding engine 202 a of client machine 54 a and schema 94 a ofserver 82 a is indicated at reference 216 a such that schema 94 a is nowloaded onto client machine 54 a and available to transcoding engine 202a.

Referring again to FIG. 9, at block 825 a secure web-page is requested.In this embodiment, transcoding engine 202 a makes a direct request forsecure web-page 90 a, bypassing server 62 a. At block 830, the secureweb-page is returned. More particularly, web server 58 a returnsweb-page 90 a to transcoding engine 202 a. Blocks 825 and 830 arerepresented in FIG. 11 as a secure connection between transcoding engine202 a and secure web-page 90 a is indicated at 220 a such that secureweb-page 90 a is now loaded onto client machine 54 a and available totranscoding engine 202 a.

Referring again to FIG. 9, at block 835 the secure web-page is renderedusing the schema. In this embodiment, transcoding engine 202 a makes useof the data contained in schema 94 a in order to pass a transcodedversion of secure web-page 90 a so that secure web-page 90 a can berendered using web-browser 82 a in accordance with the parametersprescribed by schema 94 a. Block 835 is represented in FIG. 12, astranscoded secure web-page 90 a′ is shown being rendered by web-browser82 a based on a transcoding operation performed by transcoding engine202 a utilizing schema 94 a and secure web-page 90 a.

Referring again to FIG. 9, at block 840, the secure web-page ispopulated. In this embodiment, user U provides input to keyboard (orother input device), completing form-fields on transcoded secureweb-page 90 a′ of client machine 54 a in accordance with the interactiveparameters that have been provided by schema 94 a. Where thosecredentials are maintained within personal information database 204 a,web-page 90 a′ can be automatically populated. then At block 845, thenow-completed transcoded secure web-page 90 a′ is validated. Block 845can be performed during completion of web-page 90 a′ or upon receivinginput indicating that user U is done completing web-page 90 a′ or both.

At block 850, the completed secure web-page is submitted. In thisembodiment, once validation has occurred, transcoding engine 202 a willreturn the completed version of web-page 90 a′ to web-server 58 viasecure connection 220 a.

Referring now to FIG. 13, a system for network interaction betweencomputing devices in accordance with another embodiment is indicatedgenerally at 50 b. System 50 b is a variant of system 50 a andaccordingly like elements in system 50 b bear like reference charactersto elements in system 50, except followed by the suffix “b”. Of notehowever is that in system 50 b there is not only a secure connection 220b corresponding to secure connection 220 a, but there is also anon-secure connection 224 b that is associated with web-page 90 b (whichmay be implemented as a plurality of web-pages, or not, according to thetechnology employed). It is contemplated that certain fields wheresecurity is not considered important (e.g. shipping address field 116)may be carried over non-secure connection 224 b, whereas fields wheresecurity is considered important (e.g. credit card number field 122)would be carried over secure connection 220 b. Schema 94 b therefore canensure that, when transcoded web-page 90 b′ is rendered on the clientmachine 54 b that user U does not inadvertently put user U's credit cardnumber in shipping address field 116 and thereby risk exposing thatcredit card number to inception over non-secure connection 224.Alternatively, the non-secure fields can be carried in a connectionsimilar to connection 212 a.

Further enhancements and variations will now occur to those skilled inthe art. For example, cookies can be employed between web-browser 82 aand web server 58 a to provide state to the stateless protocol HTTP.Furthermore, other HTTP headers may also provide instructions for thebrowser (character encoding, caching, etc. . . . ). Transcoding engine202 a need not alter the HTTP header in any fashion. Thereforeprocessing of cookies and other HTTP headers can be provided byweb-browser 82 a, and not altered by server 62 a.

The foregoing presents certain exemplary embodiments, but variations orcombinations or subsets thereof are contemplated.

1. A computing device comprising: a memory; a processor coupled to thememory, wherein the memory stores instructions that when executed by theprocessor cause the processor to perform the functions of: communicatingover a network; receiving, from a web server, interactive contentcomprising at least one secured field to receive a first input and atleast one unsecured field to receive a second input; receiving the firstinput in the at least one secured field; receiving the second input inthe at least one unsecured field; determining that the at least onesecured field requires secure connection with the web server;determining that the at least one unsecure field utilizes an unsecureconnection with the web server; transmitting, using the secureconnection, the first input to the web server; and transmitting, usingthe unsecure connection, the second input to the web server.
 2. Thecomputing device of claim 1, wherein the interactive content is secureinteractive content received via a secure connection.
 3. The computingdevice of claim 1, wherein the interactive content is a web-pageincluding interactive fields.
 4. The computing device of claim 1,wherein the secure connection is carried by hypertext transfer protocolover a secure sockets layer session.
 5. The computing device of claim 1,wherein the at least one unsecured field comprises information forcompleting a product order, wherein the information for completing aproduct order comprises at least one of a name, an address, or anaccount number.
 6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at leastone secured field is credit card information including a credit cardtype and a credit card account number.
 7. The computing device of claim6, wherein a first input parameter includes a first portion for thecredit card type comprising a selection of one of a plurality of knowncredit card types, and wherein the first input parameter furtherincludes a second portion for the credit card account numbercorresponding to a known number format respective to the credit cardtype.
 8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the web server hoststhe interactive content.
 9. A method comprising: receiving, by a firstcomputing device from a web server, interactive content, wherein theinteractive content comprising at least one secured field to receive afirst input from the first computing device and at least one unsecuredfield to receive a second input from the first computing device,receiving, by the first computing device, the first input in the atleast one secured field; receiving, by the first computing device, thesecond input in the at least one unsecured field; determining, by thefirst computing device, that the at least one secured field requires asecure connection with the web server; determining, by the firstcomputing device, that the at least one unsecure field utilizes anunsecure connection with the web server; transmitting, by the firstcomputing device using the secure connection, the first input to the webserver; and transmitting, by the first computing device using theunsecure connection, the second input to the web server.
 10. The methodof claim 9, wherein the interactive content is secure interactivecontent, and wherein the method further comprises receiving the secureinteractive content via a secure connection.
 11. The method of claim 9,wherein the interactive content is a web-page including interactivefields.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the secure connection iscarried by hypertext transfer protocol over a secure sockets layersession.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one unsecuredfield comprises information for completing a product order, wherein theinformation for completing a product order comprises at least one of aname, an address, or an account number.
 14. The method of claim 9,wherein the at least one secured field is credit card informationincluding a credit card type and a credit card account number.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, wherein a first input parameter includes a firstportion for the credit card type comprising a selection of one of aplurality of known credit card types, and wherein the first inputparameter further includes a second portion for the credit card accountnumber corresponding to a known number format respective to the creditcard type.
 16. The method of claim 9, wherein the web server hosts theinteractive content.
 17. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumincluding instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computingdevice, cause the computing device to: receive, from a web server,interactive content comprising at least one secured field to receive afirst input from the computing device and at least one unsecured fieldto receive a second input from the computing device receive the firstinput in the at least one secured field; receive the second input in theat least one unsecured field; determine that the at least one securedfield requires a secure connection with the web server; determine thatthe at least one unsecure field utilizes an unsecure connection with theweb server; transmit, using the secure connection, the first input tothe web server; and transmit, using the unsecure connection, the secondinput to the web server.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 17, wherein the interactive content is programmed for a firstbrowser type and a second browser type, the second browser type isdifferent than the first browser type, and wherein the second browsertype has limited rendering resources as compared to the first browsertype.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18,wherein the instructions when executed cause the processor to receive,from a schema server, a schema for the interactive content, wherein theschema identifies input parameters of the interactive content, whereinthe at least one secured field corresponds to a first input parameter ofthe input parameters, and wherein the at least one unsecured fieldcorresponds to a second input parameter of the input parameters.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein theinstructions when executed cause the processor to transform, using theschema, the interactive content from a first format compatible with thefirst browser type into a second format compatible with the secondbrowser type of the computing device.